Your Friends Will Always Understand
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: Rachel and Isabel learn this when the former tries to hide the fact that her ex-boyfriend is bothering her and when the latter gets upset over feeling helpless. Co-written with ianon2013. :)


**A story ianon2013 and I worked on together. Isabel belongs to ianon2013 and Skylanders Trap Team belongs to Activision. I only own Rachel. Also, a small reference to Sonic X, which belongs to 4Kids Entertainment.**

* * *

 **Your Friends Will Always Understand**

After another day at school, Isabel came back to Skylands to see her friends again. But she quickly noticed Rachel wasn't there. "Hey, Magna, where's Rachel?" she asked.

The robotic Skylander looked worried. "She hasn't been back here for about three weeks now," he said. "We're also worried about her."

"Three weeks?" Isabel said. "Maybe she has been busy with school work since she's in college."

Blades shook his head. "No, she showed us she only had four classes this semester and they were classes she liked and the first week she came and said she'd be back in a day or two, but that was three weeks ago now."

"Should we tell Eon about this?"

Master Eon suddenly appeared. "I am already aware of Rachel's absence," he said. "In fact, she's not at her home. I'm not sure where she is."

"Is she hurt?" Magna Charge asked.

"I don't think so, but again, I can't find her."

"I wonder where she is. I hope her ex hasn't hurt her."

Magna Charge and Blades looked at Isabel in shock. "Her ex?" asked the robot.

Isabel nodded. "Her ex-boyfriend. She broke up with him when she found out he had been arrested for theft and had told her he had no record. He keeps harassing her though," she said.

"Why didn't Rachel tell us?" asked Blades.

Isabel shrugged. "Maybe she would have felt embarrassed."

Magna Charge looked up at Master Eon. "Can you transport us to her home and we'll find her?" he asked.

Master Eon was about to answer when he quickly checked again and saw Rachel come in, but she looked afraid and exhausted and then he heard banging on a door. "She's at home, but something is wrong," he said. "Magna Charge, I'm going to open a portal behind her. When I do, reach in and pull her through the portal to here."

The robot nodded and got ready to do so. Isabel nodded as well.

* * *

Rachel hoped the locks and chain on her door would hold and keep her ex-boyfriend out of her apartment. He had been annoying her and had constantly been trying to get her to go out with him and she kept refusing and today, when she had again told him 'no', he had pushed her up against the wall and had been about to block her with his body when she pulled out some pepper spray she had with her and sprayed his eyes before running.

She was now wondering what to do when she heard a noise that sounded familiar and felt a metal arm wrap around her and pull her back as her world turned a bright blue before turning to the bright colors of the outdoors.

Both Isabel and Maggie held Rachel in a comforting way. "Okay, now close it before the guy sees the portal."

Rachel had a stunned look on her face that didn't leave her face as the portal closed and Magna gently led her inside the Academy to one of the couches and she sat down, but her eyes were blank. "Rachel?" Isabel asked. "Are you alright?"

Rachel didn't answer and Magna gently shook her shoulder, but she didn't even react.

Then Isabel snapped her fingers in front of Rachel's face, but to her surprise, Rachel didn't flinch. "It's like she's completely frozen," said Isabel.

"But why?" asked Blades worriedly.

"I dunno," Isabel said, who then saw her fellow ghost friend come in. "Masker, can you figure out why Rachel is frozen?"

The mind controller nodded. "I can confront her in her memories after I have her under my control. Don't worry, I won't bring her pain."

With that, he began to use his power on Rachel, but suddenly, she reacted sharply and lashed out a kick that hit Masker Mind hard enough to knock him to the floor and Rachel stood up, breathing a bit hard as if she had been startled badly and then she looked at Masker Mind with some anger.

"Don't you ever do that again without my permission," she growled angrily, not seeing the others in the room. She then headed out.

"Ow," Masker said before getting up. Then he saw Isabel follow Rachel, so he decided to follow the girls.

Rachel turned to Isabel. "Isabel, I know you're trying to help, but I need to be left alone for a while," she said.

"Why?" asked Isabel. "What happened?"

"Nothing," said Rachel quickly. "Just…just let me be for a while."

With that gentle request, Rachel used the transport beams and transported away to somewhere in Skylands.

Isabel stopped following Rachel, and she just looked at the transporter. "I hope she's okay," Isabel said as Masker joined her.

"Me too," he agreed.

Meanwhile, Rachel opened her eyes and found herself in Skyhighlands and quickly moved towards the watermills and went inside. It was empty, which she was glad of and she sat down with a sigh and started to calm herself after what happened with her boyfriend.

Just then, she heard Krypt King calling her name. "Rachel!" he called out. "Where are you?"

Wanting to be alone, she quickly took the transport beams again, only to find that she landed in a magical place that was a bit dark, but had all colors of purple floating around like a mist. It looked like a beautiful place. But she was not alone. Dreamcatcher accidentally saw her and quickly hid, as the floating head wasn't in the mood to fight.

"I saw you, Dreamcatcher," said Rachel, but instead of pulling out an Air Trap, the girl just walked away and Dreamcatcher was surprised, seeing the girl looked like she had been through a lot. She was about to say something when suddenly she saw the mysterious Trapper Enigma teleport there and she ran off fast to avoid the Trapper. Rachel saw him too and started running until soon, she was alone again.

Or so she thought, until an arm grabbed her and she saw Enigma had her. "Rachel," he whispered soothingly to her.

She looked at him sadly and he teleported with her out to where Krypt King was and the undead Skylander took her in his arms. "Rachel, what happened?" he asked. "Talk to me, little one."

Rachel took a minute to think as Krypt King held her gently. "Was it him?" he asked. "Did that boy bother you again?"

Her shoulders slumped. "Yes," she said softly.

Enigma rubbed her shoulder and back for comfort. "Tell us what happened."

Rachel hugged Krypt King and then hugged Enigma. "He's been stalking me and trying to kiss me," she said. "He's even chased me home a few times and I've had to call the police, but that hasn't deterred him. And the other night, he broke into my apartment, but didn't know I had a policeman with me."

She now had tears running down her face. "I'm scared he's going to eventually get me," she said.

"We will never let him touch you," Enigma said. "If he does, then we'll make sure he never sees you again. We'll always protect you, Rachel."

She still looked afraid. "He keeps following me," she said. "Everywhere I go. I'm scared to even go to college."

"Have you told anyone?" asked Krypt King.

"I tried, but because my ex is the president of one of their important clubs, they didn't believe me," said Rachel.

She then felt Enigma place a hand on her shoulder. "Then perhaps we need to pay a visit and show them that you were telling the truth," he said.

Krypt King nodded, agreeing to the idea.

But Rachel looked unsure. "Guys, I couldn't ask you to…,"

"You don't have to," said Enigma. "Because we'd do anything for you."

Krypt King pulled Rachel into a hug. "And that means protecting you from creeps like your ex-boyfriend," he said firmly.

"Besides, we love you," Enigma added.

That made Rachel smile as she also loved them as her friends and hugged them both again. "Be careful, guys," she said.

They both kissed her cheeks in an affectionate way. "We will," said Krypt King as both he and Enigma took off and she was alone again, but she was happy this time.

The two trappers soon returned. "He's gone now," said Krypt King.

"What did you two do?" she asked.

"Just spooked him badly enough to stay away from you," said Enigma with a chuckle.

Rachel smiled and hugged the two trappers as they brought her back to the Academy, where Isabel, Masker Mind, Magna Charge, and Blades were waiting for them.

"Are you feeling better, Rachel?" Isabel asked her friend with a smile.

"Yes," said Rachel. "Sorry about earlier and sorry about kicking you, Masker Mind."

"It's okay, I kinda deserved that," Masker Mind said.

"Not really," she said. "I just don't like being hypnotized. And I was kind of embarrassed you guys had seen what was going on back home."

Isabel gave her friend a hug and Rachel hugged her back. "Guess I can't hide all of my problems from you guys," she said with a smile.

"But it's okay," Isabel said, giving her a pat on the back.

Enigma came up to Isabel. "Rachel didn't happen to tell you she's ticklish, did she?" he asked.

Rachel gave him a look. "Enigma, don't you dare," she growled, but her smile made it hard to be serious.

"Get her," said Krypt King.

"Eh, I don't think I want to," Isabel admitted.

"Good call," said Rachel.

"Then I guess we'll get you both!" said Enigma as he began chasing Rachel and Krypt King began chasing Isabel.

Isabel ran as fast as she could. Getting ahead of Rachel. "This way!" she said and they kept running, but the two were closing in before Enigma caught Rachel and held her securely in his arm.

"I'll wait 'til you grab Isabel before we start," he said to Krypt King.

"Run, Isabel!" Rachel called out before feeling Enigma's blue fingers lightly poke her side and she giggled, getting the silent message that if she didn't stop squirming, he would start tickling her right then.

Isabel obeyed Rachel and ran like Forrest Gump. She had to find a hiding spot that Krypt King will never expect.

She had just stopped to catch her breath and chose a transport beam to take when suddenly she felt frozen in place and saw Krypt King's sword circle around her. He was using one of his powers to slow her down, but not hurt her. He then came up and grabbed her. "Gotcha, Isabel," he teased with a chuckle as to her shock, he reached into her backpack and pulled out the purple emerald she carried with her and chaos controlled them back to Rachel and Enigma.

"How did you know that was in my backpack?" she asked him.

"I've seen you put it there," he said with a chuckle. "Now, I believe a tickle torture is due. Do you agree, Enigma?"

"No, please don't," Isabel said, she really didn't want this to happen. She looks at her purple emerald and saw it start to glow. Even if she didn't have it in her hand, she could teleport by thought and concentration. "Chaos Control!" She said, this time she succeeded in getting away. Holding the gem in her hand and started running again.

But she didn't get too far when Enigma suddenly appeared in front of her and grabbed her, teleporting too fast for Isabel to counter it and she was a bit dizzy as he chuckled and handed her to Krypt King, accepting Rachel from the Undead Skylander and the skeleton removed Isabel's backpack and set it aside before starting to tickle Isabel and Enigma began tickling Rachel.

Isabel laughed really loud and hard. She tried getting out of Krypt King's grasp by squirming, but only made it worse. "I really hate this."

"If you really did, you wouldn't be laughing," said King with a chuckle as he kept tickling her, hearing her laugh harder. Rachel was also laughing hard as Enigma had her pinned to the ground and tickling her stomach and underarms.

"Because you're forcing me to!" Isabel yelled at him. "Now let me go!"

Hearing that, Enigma stopped tickling Rachel and whispered something to her and she grinned. "I think King needs some help with her," she said.

"Then let's give him a hand," said Enigma with a chuckle.

Isabel growled angrily, and the gem in her hand glowed bloody red. Eventually, it caused a Chaos Blast pushing and forcing Krypt King off of her, also hurting the Skylander. "When I said get off, I meant it!" Isabel said to the King as she got up.

"Whoa, Isabel," said Rachel. "We're just having some fun."

Isabel saw the hurt look on her face and saw that King was hurt too and she felt bad as she watched Rachel and Enigma go over to help their friend.

But Isabel shook the guilt away and went home. She was furious at Krypt King for pinning her down and leaving her helpless. And she hated only having two abilities for the Chaos Emerald.

Rattle Shake noticed Isabel's sour mood when she came home. "Isabel, I heard what happened," he said. "Don't you think you might have been a bit harsh with King?"

"I know it was, but I'm getting tired of this. Pinning me down and tickling me is becoming a bore," Isabel sighed.

"They only do it in fun," he said. "And if you don't like being pinned down, you could tell them. They'd understand."

"I could tell them, but mostly I hate is you guys using your powers against us!" Isabel added. "Now please leave me alone so I can think."

Rattle Shake knew he couldn't get her to admit anything when she was upset. "Okay," he said. "Just don't be mad at them for long, okay?"

With that, he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek and left.

Isabel's shoulders slumped a bit when he said that and she felt the guilt come back to where she felt a few tears begin falling. "I'm sorry Krypt King for hurting you," she said and cried into her pillow, eventually falling asleep in her bed, comforted by her blankets and pillows as she dreamed the night away.

* * *

In the morning, she still felt sad and her eyes were a bit red and her face stained with tears. She then got up and was about to go wash her face off when a knock came at her door. "Come in," she called out, thinking it was Rattle Shake.

But a familiar black-armored face greeted her. "Isabel?" asked Krypt King. "Are you doing alright?"

A lump filled her throat. She had hurt him, but he came to see her and ask how she was doing? That made her feel even more guilty, but also touched that he was concerned about her. "Not…really," she answered softly.

King came up to her and gently pulled her into a hug.

That was it. She began crying into his shoulder and apologizing to him and he just held her, rubbing her back and letting her cry.

"I'm so sorry, Krypt King."

"Shh," he gently hushed her as he kept rubbing her back. "It's okay, Isabel. It's okay."

"No, it's not," she sniffled and was about to speak again when she felt a gentle hand cover her mouth to prevent her from saying another word.

"Isabel, I'm not mad at you," said Krypt King. "I understand."

"But…,"

He shook his head and hugged her closer, gently forcing her head to lay on his shoulder while he began stroking her head soothingly. Soon she started to feel better, almost happy.

King noticed this and he sneaked one hand to her side and gently poked it, making her giggle and grab his hand.

"I'm not going to pin you down," he promised her. "But I'm not going to let you have any lingering sadness."

Isabel nodded. "Okay, Krypt King."

Giving her a smile, he began tickling her gently.

Isabel giggled and smiled. "Krypty," she said, pausing from her laughter.

He chuckled a bit at that and stopped tickling her. "Feeling better now?" he asked.

"Yeah," Isabel said and nodded, hugging Krypt King who returned the hug and then scooped her up and placed her on his back, to her surprise.

"Come on. Rachel and Enigma wanted to see how you were doing," he said as he began walking towards his other two friends with her hanging onto his shoulders.

"Okay," Isabel smiled and massaged his shoulders. He rolled his neck around in response as it felt good and it was easing the tension out of his shoulders. "No wonder Rattle Shake chose you for his girl. He gets free massages," he said with a chuckle.

Isabel turned a bit red at that, but knew her friend was just teasing her. "I know, I even do it to his tail," she added.

"I don't doubt that," said the undead skeleton as they finally reached Rachel and Enigma.

"Hi, guys." Then Isabel waved.

Both Rachel and Enigma looked relieved that she was alright. "Isabel," said Rachel in relief.

"We were worried about you," said Enigma.

"I know you were."

Rachel gently pulled her into a hug and Enigma wrapped an arm around the two. "Don't be afraid to tell us if you don't like something, Isabel," he said. "We'll understand."

Isabel nodded. "Thank you, guys."

Just then, Masker Mind tackled her and began tickling her. "Hey! Masker!" she cried out as she laughed and then looked at the other three.

"Don't look at us," said Rachel. "We didn't say anything to him."

"Then again, being able to read minds, Masker might have found out that way," said Krypt King thoughtfully.

"True," Isabel laughed.

Finally Masker Mind let her up and Dive Clops came running up to them. "Guys! We just got an alert from Thunderbolt! Nightshade is trying to steal the Air Trophy!" he said urgently.

"The Dark Element thief?" Isabel asked.

"Same one," said Rachel. "He's a slippery one. King and I have trapped him like three times already."

"How does he keep getting out?" asked Enigma.

"Don't know," said Rachel. "I'll have to ask Mags to reinforce the trap."

"We should get going, we shouldn't let him get away," Isabel added.

"I want to help!" Masker said happily. "I want action, _and_ my powers could be handy."

Rachel nodded. "Okay," she said. "That will be six of us against him."

Enigma was thoughtful. "We better bring some more backup, just in case," he said.

Spy Rise and Rattle Shake soon came up to them. "Someone call for backup?" asked Spy Rise.

Isabel nodded. "I like these odds better," she said.

"Me too," she said. "But how are we going to get up to the sky? Flynn's ship is still being repaired."

Just then, thunder sounded and Thunderbolt, the huge air Skylander landed beside them, his Storm Sword in his hands.

"The more, the merrier," Isabel smiled.

"Nightshade is gonna get brain drained!" Masker Mind cheered.

"Let's hope so," said Thunderbolt in his deep voice as he suddenly grew a bit larger and scooped up the gathered Skylanders and the two humans in his arms.

"Whoa!" Rachel exclaimed in surprise and the others echoed her startled cry before clinging to Thunderbolt's arms as he flew them up to his home, Mount Cloudpierce.

"This is cool!" Isabel said, despite her fear of heights. "And the funny thing is, I got Thunderbolt's figure for Christmas."

The Air Trap Master chuckled a bit as he adjusted his hold on them to help them feel safer, as he saw Rachel was looking a bit unwell. "Are you alright, Rachel?" he asked in concern.

She nodded, keeping her eyes closed as she held onto him. "Just some vertigo," she said honestly.

Hearing that, Thunderbolt slowed down a bit to a more comfortable speed and noted the others looked a bit relieved at not flying so fast, but as they were still flying, they reached Mount Cloudpierce in no time.

* * *

Isabel's mouth hung open in shock of its beauty. Thunderbolt set them all down and to their surprise, they could walk on the clouds.

Just then, they heard screaming and saw several of the inhabitants running away as Nightshade caused havoc.

"Let's go stop Nightshade."

At Isabel's suggestion, they took off after the thief, who suddenly disappeared. "Shadow clones!" Rachel cried out in surprise.

"He's sending them from somewhere else!" said Rattle Shake.

"Stand back!" Thunderbolt said as with a loud roar, his sword struck the ground and caused a bright burst of lightning that destroyed all the shadow clones. They looked up in awe at him.

"Remind me to never get on his bad side," said Rachel to King, who nodded in agreement. Even Isabel nodded in agreement.

Thunderbolt then looked up and saw the museum up ahead. "That's where the Air Trophy is kept," he said.

A guard came running up. "Nightshade's in there. He disabled all our security and is going after the trophy!" he said.

Rachel and Isabel came up to him with jaws set firm. "Good thing you've got backup security," said Isabel.

"We do?" asked the guard.

" _Us_ ," said Enigma, tightening his hold on his staff. Isabel took out her knife and the others tightened their grip on their weapons while Rachel pulled out a dark trap from her pocket and pulled out her electric guitar from behind her back.

Awed, the inhabitants let them pass as they all marched toward the museum, ready to trap Nightshade once again. "We won't let him escape with the trophy," Isabel said, determined. "And that's a promise."

The others nodded as they entered the museum, which had several floors. "Which floor has the trophy?" Rachel asked Thunderbolt.

"The very top floor," he answered as he led the way.

Isabel climbed the steps with her friends and keeping her knife in hand and gripped tight. Suddenly, a shadow clone grabbed her and she screamed, but the clone suddenly teleported her away. "Isabel!" Rachel and Rattle Shake cried out in worry.

Thunderbolt, although he had just met them, felt protective of the younger girl. "Come on," he said, gathering them up in his arms again and flying as fast as he dared to find Nightshade and Isabel.

* * *

Isabel was shocked of being teleported by the clone, she looks around where she is. "Welcome," said Nightshade mockingly. "You're just the distraction I need."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, reaching one hand to get the Chaos Emerald in her backpack, but it wasn't there.

"This won't help you now," said the thief as he held up the gem. "My clones are too strong to escape from."

With that, he teleported his clones and Isabel out of the room and into a hallway where she was pinned by the clones as they started tickling her and she did her best to not laugh. But those clones held her down and increased the tickle torture, not letting her rest for one minute as she tried to shake them off, but they wouldn't let her up. "Stop it!" she shouted, but they didn't. She then kept quiet as she didn't want to be the distraction.

Just then, one of the shadow clones shook and fizzled out. This was because Rachel had punched it. And she wasn't alone. Spy Rise and Rattle Shake were doing the same while Enigma was using his Paradox pound to attack the clones that tried to escape. Dive Clops was then helping her up. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yes, but I was just the distraction for you so Nightshade could get his hands on the trophy!" she said, alarm in her voice.

"We figured that out when one of Nightshade's clones appeared and told us he had you," said Rachel. "Krypt King, Masker Mind, and Thunderbolt headed for the top floor to stop him while we came to help you."

"But, why?" asked Isabel.

"Because we know you hate being pinned down and tickled, being unable to move, especially if it's by a villain," said Enigma. "We understand why too."

"Well, thank you guys for saving me," Isabel said then smiled, giving Rattle and Dive a hug.

"That's what friends who care about you do," said Rattle Shake, giving her a gentle kiss.

Rachel smiled and then grew serious. "Come on," she said. "Something tells me the others need our help."

Isabel nodded.

* * *

They soon saw Rachel was right as Krypt King and Masker Mind were both on the ground, weakened badly and Thunderbolt has having a hard time fighting Nightshade. The girls instantly ran over to their friends and dragged them to the side of the room where they'd be safe before jumping into the battle.

"Nightshade, I'm going to murder you for stealing my Emerald!" Isabel shouted at the cat.

"Oh, really?" he taunted and made more clones of himself. "You have to find the real me first!"

As the clones began running around, the Skylanders and two Portal Masters started attacking them to get to the real Nightshade.

"I hate this," Isabel said, then realized she could find him easily. She knelt to the ground and shut her eyes, connecting herself to the Emerald's power. "CHAOS BLAST!"

The blast shocked the villain and he not only lost a bit of his health, but also dropped the Emerald, which Rattle Shake picked up while Thunderbolt blasted Nightshade again with his sword and the others joined in with their attacks, diminishing the villains health pool rapidly.

"He's almost finished!" Isabel shouted.

"Then let's end this now!" said Rachel.

Hearing that, each Skylander began attacking, using their special attacks one at a time to keep Nightshade off balance. Isabel then threw in the final Chaos blast that trapped the villain into the force field and Rachel inserted the trap in. Thunderbolt came up to her and tapped his sword carefully against the trap, which caused lightning to form around it. To her surprise, the lightning didn't hurt her as Nightshade was trapped inside the trap. "The Lightning will keep him from getting out," he said.

"Good," Isabel said. She was happy to have her Emerald back in her possession. "He deserves to be punished for taking my gem."

"And for trying to steal the Air Trophy," said Thunderbolt who then showed them the trophy.

"Wow," said Rachel. "This is where it belongs though. Not with some villain."

The others agreed as they all teleported back to Skylanders Academy.

* * *

Isabel nearly fainted, but was exhausted. After fighting and using Chaos Blast twice, her energy was being sucked from her. "Whoa there," said Thunderbolt as he gently caught the younger girl in his arms. "Looks like you need a good night's rest."

"She's got the right idea," said Rachel as she felt sleepy as well.

Isabel nodded. "Also I'm hungry too. A French Dip sandwich sounds good right about now."

As they walked up to the Academy, Ghost Roaster came out and smiled. "I'll take the girls from here," he said. "And I'll bring them up later."

The girls didn't protest as he took them to his kitchen and Isabel saw a French Dip sandwich and Rachel saw a BLT. They instantly dove into the food, making the cook chuckle. "You two were hungry," he said as they soon finished their sandwiches and looked very sleepy now. He picked them up and carried them up to the living room where the others were waiting and gently handed Isabel to Rattle Shake while Krypt King gently took Rachel from the cook. Nodding, Ghost Roaster went back downstairs while the others settled down for the night. Isabel smiled and snuggled into the rattlesnake Skylander.

He gently tickled her side before wrapping his arms warmly around her. "Sleep well, my love," he said.

She leaned up and gave him a sleepy kiss, which he returned. "Thank you," she said, eyes closing softly.

Rattle Shake took her to bed and placed her under the blankets, joining after taking off his jacket, and Masker went into his own bed in Isabel's room.

Rattle then looked at Isabel lovingly before laying down beside her and closing his eyes and the two fell asleep peacefully in each other's arms. Dreaming the night away until tomorrow morning.

* * *

 **Please leave a review for both ianon2013 and myself, but no flames!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


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